What is a lead?
Before we explain what a lead magnet is and how it works, let’s lay out the basics. A lead is what we call contact information about a potential customer. It is by having access to such information that we can begin the process of acquiring a customer.
The detail of the lead can vary greatly – often an email address alone is enough to allow us to contact the customer (for example, to send newsletters or special offers). In some industries, however, a phone number may be more important, and in still others, detailed information will be needed (including – for example – the consumer’s place of residence, age or business address).
Why is it important to acquire leads?
Lead generation is nothing more than “converting” visitors to your store’s website or social media profiles into potential customers. While there are, of course, times when a visitor will become a customer right away, without the involvement of an intermediate step, in the long run, lead generation is necessary for the growth of your online store.
Generating leads means building a base – a group of people to whom you can target your offers, remind them of important events, inform them about promotions, and in this way indirectly (but very clearly) influence sales.
An online store that has a large database of leads can segment potential customers into smaller categories to target them with better tailored offers. In this context, the more customer data you have, the better.
Cold, warm and hot leads
You can also divide the leads you have by the stage in the sales process they are at.
- Cold leads are people who do not express interest in your store’s offerings, but have shared their data, for example, to get something in return. Converting a cold lead into a paying customer requires a lot of commitment and can be time-consuming.
- Warm leads are people who express little interest – for example, in a product you are selling. A warm lead, however, doesn’t know where he or she will buy it – he or she is just thinking about it and may need help deciding.
- Hot leads are people who express a need to buy the products or services offered by your store, want to buy them from you and intend to do so in the near future.
The above division is, of course, only an example – depending on the specifics of your business, you can divide the leads differently – for example, add another category or move the boundaries of the current ones.
How to create a lead magnet?
Lead magnet is freely translated… a lead magnet, or something you encourage visitors to share their contact information with your company. This incentive can take the form of free content, products or services, or discount codes.
The scheme of operation is usually quite simple: your company offers visitors an incentive in exchange for leaving their contact information. Usually a form is created for this purpose, the completion of which entitles the visitor to download free materials or results in the sending of a discount code – for example, to an email or SMS.
Not every lead magnet will be equally effective. Much depends on who your store’s customers are and what you sell. That’s why it’s so important to know your target audience thoroughly. Creating a marketing persona, or customer persona, can help with this significantly – we wrote about how to do this and the benefits it brings earlier, in an article on Facebook advertising.
In a moment, we will discuss the issue of appropriate selection of lead magnets – but before that, we will present examples of incentives that we may encounter most often.
Lead magnet – examples
So what can be a lead magnet? Specifically, how do you attract visitors and convince them to become potential customers? There are many possibilities – here are some of the most popular ideas for lead magnets. They will help you attract new customers and increase your chances of making a sale.
Discount code
Surely you have already happened to spot this kind of lead magnet on the Internet. It’s not surprising, because it’s one of the easiest ways to get leads. All you need to do is display to your visitors information about the possibility of obtaining a discount code for their first or next purchases in exchange for signing up for your newsletter or – simply – filling out a form.
In a situation where an Internet user is browsing a store’s website with the intention of making a purchase, a discount code may be exactly what convinces him to choose your store.
It’s a good idea to set an expiration date for the discount code – this way you encourage the user to make purchases within a specific timeframe, such as two weeks or a month after receiving the code. A longer deadline will make the discount recipient… simply forget about it.
Early access to the service
Are you selling services or software and introducing new features over time? You can encourage potential customers to buy by offering early access to an item that is not yet widely available. By doing so, you will spark user interest.
Another variant of this lead magnet is to create a simple newsletter, in which you inform subscribers about upcoming promotions or deliveries of desired products. Participating in the newsletter will give them a chance to get the product before the rest, and the cost is only to leave their contact information.
Free delivery
Like a discount code, free delivery is a promise of a tangible profit. Free delivery can mean savings of several zlotys when we are talking about a small shipment sent to a parcel machine or through a courier service.
Free transportation of large products (such as furniture or electronic equipment) is already a bigger saving – the attractiveness of this lead magnet, however, depends largely on the price of the product itself.
E-book, tutorial, video course
Free guidance materials can be very valuable if they prove to be reliable. However, that’s what a visitor won’t know until they fill out a form and leave a contact for you. However, you don’t want to test the patience of potential customers by sending them something that will be of no use to them – instead of gaining a potential customer, you may only annoy them in such a situation, closing the path to conversion.
However, if you actually have something specific to offer – act! Here are some examples of materials that can work well as lead magnets:
- The e-book “Which bike is for you?” is a great idea for getting leads for a bike store. Buyers often don’t know what kind of unicycle they need, and you can dispel their doubts. However, make sure that the content is reliable and full of useful material, such as infographics, comparisons of specific models (from your store’s offer, of course), etc.
- An online course –on modeling, for example – is a great idea for specialty and hobby stores. Seeing that you know your stuff and have expert knowledge, customers will be more likely to shop with you – and since you will have their email address, it will be easier to inform them about your store’s offerings. What’s more, by posting a video course on your own platform and ensuring proper positioning, you’ll gain entries to your site and attract people who are looking for specialized knowledge.
Product sample
When selling online, it’s not as easy to give away product samples as it is for physical stores. However, this doesn’t mean it can’t be done, although it requires more commitment on the part of the store.
A good idea, if you want to give away free samples, is to set a specific limit on requests. This way you will gain the interest of potential customers, but you won’t risk bankruptcy. It is also important to choose the right samples for your target audience. You also need to expect that some people will take advantage of the opportunity to receive samples without any intention of purchasing the full product.
That’s why you should consider adding a discount code for purchasing the full version to the samples you send. This way you will apply two incentives instead of one.
Competition
Giving away products or sets of products is a way of getting leads that has been known for a very long time. In the case of a contest, the prize is especially important, of course. It must be attractive enough to gain the interest of potential customers.
However, you can’t forget about the formula for the contest – this one should also be engaging, and ideally it should use the potential of social media.
An example would be a contest in which entrants must post their entries (photos, artwork, poems, short videos) in the comments under the contest post. However, if you want to gain leads in the process, you can add a condition of participation, according to which those participating in the contest will have to send a confirmation of their entry to the email address provided, and thus get on your mailing list.
You can also create your own landing page with the contest and accept entries that way. It will be a good idea to reserve the right to share the contest entries – you will find it useful for creating engaging social media content.
Quiz
Gamification (or gamification) is an increasingly popular marketing technique in which users are encouraged to take part in various activities by implementing mechanics known from games.
Creating a quiz that rewards participant users for getting the required number of correct answers (or simply for participating) can be an interesting way to engage visitors to your store’s website. So how do you acquire leads with a quiz? Simply offer an additional incentive on the last board – the one with the score – in exchange for entering their email address.
In this way, the quiz becomes an initial incentive for the user – with the commitment he has already put into filling out the quiz, it will be easier to convince him to share his contact information.
Demo or consultation with an expert
Do you sell a difficult product and realize that its purchase is often preceded by long hours of thought by customers? Help them make a decision! Offer a one-on-one consultation with your store’s expert – a person who is very familiar with the products on offer and is able to offer real support to potential customers.
In this way, you will not only acquire a lead, but perhaps just as quickly turn it into a paying customer.
Webinar or training
This is actually another variant of the previous lead magnet. A webinar or training requires a different approach to organization, but allows you to gather more people interested in your company’s products or services at the same place and time. However, organizing such an event requires a lot of preparation and is quite risky. In order not to waste time preparing for an event that no one will attend, it is worthwhile to research potential interest beforehand, for example, by informing people about your plans and launching a pre-registration – in a form with the need to leave an email address, of course.
How to evaluate the effectiveness of an incentive?
In order for a lead magnet to be effective, it should represent a tangible value to the potential customer. That’s why discount codes or free delivery are so popular – they are magnets that attract effectively because it is very easy to calculate their appeal.
Customers also appreciate the opportunity to take away benefits immediately. It’s right now – when they’re browsing your website or social media – that they’re considering the options available and are focused on fulfilling their purchasing need.
A good lead magnet should also increase visitors’ confidence in your brand. Show that you know your products very well and can explain even the smallest details about their use. If you sell furniture of your own manufacture and offer users a guide to wood maintenance, you are thus showing that you understand your products and want – together with your customers – to take care of them for as long as possible. In other words: you are building a brand as an expert in your field.
Another hallmark of an effective lead magnet is that it helps solve a specific problem. This criterion is met by all kinds of e-books, tutorials or individual consultations. If you show a potential customer how your products will change their lives for the better, you will significantly increase your chances of making a sale.
Lead magnet – a simple and effective tool in marketing
If you want to create the perfect lead magnet, you need to know your product very well, and preferably your target audience as well. However, these requirements do not apply to the two most popular forms of visitor incentives – a discount code and free delivery are magnets that always have a good chance of success – as long as they offer an actual benefit to the buyer (a 3% discount is unlikely to bring your company hundreds of customers, as is free delivery for purchases of at least PLN 5,000).
However, there is no doubt that acquiring leads through user attraction magnets is one of the most effective ways. Certainly, this is not hindered by the fact that the types of lead magnets are virtually endless. You are only limited by two things: your imagination and your budget.
